The present disclosure relates to devices, such as data storage devices containing solid-state media. In particular, the present disclosure relates to the management of data files in data storage devices having solid-state media.
Data storage devices containing solid-state media are becoming increasingly popular for the storage of data. This is primarily due to their robust architecture, low power consumption, and compact designs. For example, a common use of flash-based storage devices is in combination with computer interfaces, such as universal serial bus (USB) interfaces, to provide fast-access flash drives that can read and write data in a manner that is convenient for users. Such drives typically have substantial storage capacities, which is ideal for storing and transferring data between different computer systems. Additionally, many industries are focusing on larger, more permanent sold-state storage devices to replace or supplement hard disks in a variety of computer systems. These solid-state drives desirably have large storage capacities and may function as the primary drives of the computer systems for retaining operating systems, applications, documents, and other data files.
Sold-state media is also being used as non-volatile caches for hard disk storage devices. In these hybrid drives, logical block addresses (LBAs) are typically mapped to the track sectors of the hard disk in a one-to-one manner. This one-to-one arrangement is attainable because track sectors in hard disks may be directly overwritten with new data. In comparison, however, data blocks of solid-state media typically cannot be rewritten without erasing the given data blocks first. As such, data written to solid-state media may be scattered amongst the different data blocks, which can substantially increase file search times. Accordingly, there is a need for a system to manage data files stored on sold-state media that provides fast data file searching and that also reduces the memory bandwidth required to maintain the management system.